City staff reports Moody's rating retained, grant monitoring closed, and proposed internal-control and food/subscription policies

City staff member Jessica Morgan gave the board a monthly fiscal and administration update covering year-end work, litigation, credit ratings, grant monitoring and a set of policy changes recommended after a comptroller review.

Morgan said the state approved the budget the board passed in June, with a single comment asking the city to keep certain line items under budget after an adjusted journal entry moved interest into the capital debt fund. She said staff plan to present full year-to-date revenues and expenditures at the August workshop.

On credit ratings, Morgan said Moody’s has retained Sweetwater’s AA3 rating and that Standard & Poor’s also maintains a positive rating (described as “plus” in the packet). She described AA3 as a prime investment-grade rating; staff said the rating reflects low long-term debt, rising revenues, improved fund balance and reduced net pension liability and that the rating will help with future borrowing for the community center.

Morgan reported grant-monitoring activity: a $1.6 million police grant recently closed with no findings; another Main Street Economic and Community Development (ECD) grant will be monitored in August. She warned that state grant monitoring is intensifying and will require tighter record-keeping.

Following a comptroller investigation, Morgan said staff and MTAS have recommended policy changes. Staff plan to present an updated internal-control manual and two ordinances at the August meeting: one ordinance would require purchase orders for purchases over $10,000 and would add a subscriptions audit process (a designated reviewer will verify subscription necessity at renewal); the second ordinance would formalize a non-travel food policy, requiring sign-in sheets for meeting-provided meals and listing permissible reasons for food purchases (employee morale, long meetings, training, etc.). Morgan said the changes aim to meet recommendations from the comptroller’s office and to safeguard city assets.

Morgan also reported leadership turnover: Parks director Sean Vestal is returning to the fire department, staff have five internal applicants for the parks director post and staff will begin interviews; department-head appointments will be brought to the full board for vote when a recommendation is ready. Morgan asked commissioners for any questions and said the packet includes more detail for the August first-reading items.